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EBS BassIQ Blue Label


SumOne
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Anyone here tried the EBS BassIQ Blue Label? https://ebssweden.com/content2/effects/ebs-bassiq-blue-label/ 

Seems pretty good  with controls for threshold, q, attack,  and switches for 2x up modes, 1x down, and Full Range, Band Pass, and Low Pass filter options. Analog, true bypass, and "Trim pots are found inside to set the Gain output level of the pedal, a High Pass mix-in trim pot sets the level of high frequencies from the bypassed tone to mix in with the effect. A third trim pot decides the Range of the envelope effect in the pedals UP-R mode setting. "

 

It's £170, at that price it'll need to be better than things like the  M82 and the emma discumbobulator v2, but it's cheaper than the Aguilar Filter twin and Mr Black Fwonkbeta, or EarthQuaker Spatial Delivery. On paper it seems to have more control/versatility than them while also being smaller (perhaps could do with having a clean blend like a couple of them have?).....but how does it sound (and feel to play) in real life? Always difficult to tell by comparing youtube videos.

 

.....or better off spending that much on 2nd hand Spectrum or Wonderlove?

 

image.png.7a755da5430f4c23dcc71eee12bffd5d.png

Edited by SumOne
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Only one way to tell for sure. I've got no will power, am impatient, and it's payday tomorrow so have just ordered one from Amazon (Not Amazon's biggest fan but free delivery and returns with instant refunds makes testing out pedals quite hassle free, hassle free for me anyway- not so sure the retailers would agree).

 

Edited by SumOne
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13 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

See what you think - I like it... but have to admit, I like the M82 more.

I owned an M82, sold it when I got a C4, realised the C4 could sound very similar but somehow was missing something (possibly just the hardware controls) and I missed the M82 so I got another one but it seemed to develop (or perhaps I just started noticing) a clipping type sound when letting the envelope play out no matter how much I changed all the controls,  one I noticed it I couldn't un-notice it! So playing the filter field a bit now.

......perhaps all roads lead me back to M82 eventually though!

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I have an earlier model for sale here and IMO they're one of the best EF available....and I've bought a few. 

This is the second one I've bought and sold, only because I'm not gigging (is anybody?) and only use pedals at home. Whether it is "the best" one available I can't say but spending twice the money for negligible gain doesn't make sense to be. Certainly "good enough" I'd say..

20200917_120941.jpg

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3 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I have an earlier model for sale here and IMO they're one of the best EF available....and I've bought a few. 

This is the second one I've bought and sold, only because I'm not gigging (is anybody?) and only use pedals at home. Whether it is "the best" one available I can't say but spending twice the money for negligible gain doesn't make sense to be. Certainly "good enough" I'd say..

20200917_120941.jpg

Ah, nice one- I missed your advert. If the I like the Blue label but don't find much need for the filter switch then I'll be in contact.

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I found the M82 a little harsh / shrill compared to something like the Fwonkbeta or my current fav the Proton v4 which is on a par with the best of my previous filers including the 3 Leaf GR2. It's a bit pricey though!

image.png.d57a51a18ce6bdfcebb95b0aab2eee18.png

Intrigued that the C4 didn't hit the mark for you though - I've only heard positive things about it (but I've managed to develop immunity to SA pedals for other reasons!). Did you not manage to try out some of our very own @Quatschmacher's patches for it?

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49 minutes ago, SumOne said:

I owned an M82, sold it when I got a C4, realised the C4 could sound very similar but somehow was missing something (possibly just the hardware controls) and I missed the M82 so I got another one but it seemed to develop (or perhaps I just started noticing) a clipping type sound when letting the envelope play out no matter how much I changed all the controls,  one I noticed it I couldn't un-notice it! So playing the filter field a bit now.

......perhaps all roads lead me back to M82 eventually though!

I’ve done a very close M82 patch for C4/Spectrum but wouldn’t give up my actual M82. 

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9 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

I’ve done a very close M82 patch for C4/Spectrum but wouldn’t give up my actual M82. 

Yeah, I used them (and a lot of your others) and it's very good. But I guess like you, there's just something that the M82 has that the C4 doesn't - it doesn't fully replace it. 

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4 minutes ago, SumOne said:

Yeah, I used them (and a lot of your others) and it's very good. But I guess like you, there's just something that the M82 has that the C4 doesn't - it doesn't fully replace it. 

But didn't the C4 have enough other "good stuff" to make it worthwhile keeping? 

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16 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I found the M82 a little harsh / shrill compared to something like the Fwonkbeta or my current fav the Proton v4 which is on a par with the best of my previous filers including the 3 Leaf GR2. It's a bit pricey though!

image.png.d57a51a18ce6bdfcebb95b0aab2eee18.png

Intrigued that the C4 didn't hit the mark for you though - I've only heard positive things about it (but I've managed to develop immunity to SA pedals for other reasons!). Did you not manage to try out some of our very own @Quatschmacher's patches for it?

C4 is great but I found it didn't quite replace the M82 or Octamizer. Very close though. I think it was mostly down to the limited hardware controls for on-hand tweaking. 

Proton looks good. I had a fwonkbeta for a while and found it a bit too much of an unpredictable speaker breaker! 

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3 minutes ago, SumOne said:

C4 is great but I found it didn't quite replace the M82 or Octamizer. Very close though. I think it was mostly down to the limited hardware controls for on-hand tweaking. 

Proton looks good. I had a fwonkbeta for a while and found it a bit too much of an unpredictable speaker breaker! 

Yeah filter spikes are definitely worth keeping an eye on and the Fwonkbeta had some potentially fearsome lows which needed taming! I've resorted to using my compresser as a limiter at the end of my signal chain exactly for the reason you mentioned ie to protect against filter spikes. 

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19 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

But didn't the C4 have enough other "good stuff" to make it worthwhile keeping? 

I got the C4 mostly to replace my M82 and Octamizer. Figured selling them would make about £200, then an extra £50 was worth it for the extra synth features.

C4 is great and it gets very close but doesn't 100% replicate them, you can play a clean loop and run it through the Octamizer or M82 vs C4 to make the loop sound exactly the same - you could then listen A/B recordings of that loop and not tell the difference. But that's a bit misleading because when actually playing there is a subtle difference, C4 didn't sound quite as good across the whole range of notes and playing dynamics, and it wasn't as easy to do something like the equivalent increasing the 'growl' of the Octamizer as it fed into the M82 with decreased sensitivity - you'd ideally need a C4 preset and quite a long time tweaking to replicate that. The main C4 disadvantage for me was it's lack of  'on-hand' controls so you need to save all the different options as presets- and then it's hard to tweak them via the pedal as it's tricky to remember 'is this synth preset control knob #1 for attack, or bass?  or is this filter preset control knob #1 for decay or !?' etc. And to access more than 6 presets you need phone/laptop or controller hooked up or getting a controller like the MC6 (£220) + Neuro Hub (£100) puts the overall cost at £570 and even then it wouldn't have the same 'on-hand' controls as the two separate pedals.....so I returned the C4.

Not to be down on the C4 though, it is an excellent pedal, and I was specifically wanting to re-create analog pedals but I think it 100% nails replicating digital pedals like the POG, sub n up, OC2. And obviously it has loads of different synth/filter/octaver sounds so it's doing much more than just replicating other pedals. I'd be tempted to get a Spectrum as I think 6 presets and the additional 'alt' controller functions mean that it would work well as a stand-alone filter pedal without having to spend a load more on controllers.

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4 minutes ago, SumOne said:

The main C4 disadvantage for me was it's lack of  'on-hand' controls so you need to save all the different options as presets- and then it's hard to tweak them via the pedal as it's tricky to remember 'is this synth preset control knob #1 for attack, or bass?  or is this filter preset control knob #1 for decay or !?' etc. And to access more than 6 presets you need phone/laptop or controller hooked up or getting a controller like the MC6 (£220) + Neuro Hub (£100) puts the overall cost at £570 and even then it wouldn't have the same 'on-hand' controls as the two separate pedals...

You've pretty much nailed it right there for the neo-luddite faction, of which I'm a founding member 😁

The other deal breaker for me is not knowing which of the presets you're on mid set without a separate midi and having to remember which order you have your presets in - there's enough going on when playing live not to have remember that! For me the strength / beauty of the SA pedals is that they are essentially multi-fx's and all the multis I'm using from my Zoom B1-4 (at just £60 plus P&P) upwards have very decent UI. Hoping that SA are going to provide a fix to this at some point, at which point I'll be making a bee-line back to their products.

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4 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

You've pretty much nailed it right there for the neo-luddite faction, of which I'm a founding member 😁

The other deal breaker for me is not knowing which of the presets you're on mid set without a separate midi and having to remember which order you have your presets in - there's enough going on when playing live not to have remember that! For me the strength / beauty of the SA pedals is that they are essentially multi-fx's and all the multis I'm using from my Zoom B1-4 (at just £60 plus P&P) upwards have very decent UI. Hoping that SA are going to provide a fix to this at some point, at which point I'll be making a bee-line back to their products.

Yeah, just something like the little screen on the Zoom pedals or Boss RC pedals would really help - and it's presumably pretty cheap to do as those pedals don't break the bank.

 

I recently got a Source Audio Gemini which I think is great as 6 modulation presets is plenty for me, and it's easy enough to tell what preset I'm on (e.g. green light = chorus x3, red light = phaser, flanger, vibe) and as they are all similar enough effects it's fine for the controls to all be fixed the same things across the presets- and 4 controls is enough for most live tweaking. A bit of laptop/phone editing is good to fine-tune other parameters but doesn't need hours of mucking about. 

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2 hours ago, SumOne said:

Yeah, just something like the little screen on the Zoom pedals or Boss RC pedals would really help - and it's presumably pretty cheap to do as those pedals don't break the bank.

Yeah - very good shout about the Boss RC pedals. But then where Boss lead... 

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EBS BassIQ Blue Label arrived and it's good, I'd only got it on impulse expecting to probably return it but I think I''ll probably keep it - there's tough competition in this price range though.

Compared to the M82:  Not much in it between the two but if I was just after a bandpass filter sweeping up I'd probably get an M82. The M82 clean/wet controls and depth control are things the EBS doesn't have, and the M82 has a bit more of an in your face 'quack' than the EBS, I do like the EBS tone though- it's smoother. And the EBS bandpass is okay at keeping the low end without a clean blend because it seems to work a bit differently to the M82 in that the threshold at zero is pretty much 100% clean and it gradually gets blended out, that along with the Q and Attack seem to all interact with each other and the amount of clean blend a bit more than the M82 controls do, so although the EBS has fewer knobs it can still get a similar (or perhaps more) variety of tones just in the equivalent bandpass + filter up settings. The M82 sub type sounds with sensitivity dialled down are also a bit more full on than the EBS - but I quite like the milder (and perhaps more usable) EBS sub.  The EBS doesn't have the Decay frequency control of the M82 which is a shame, but the main thing the EBS is lacking is output volume control- it does have an internal pot for that, and it seems to be at unity without adjusting it so it's hopefully not a bit issue, still though - what if I want the sub tone turned down and then change to a more 'quack' setting that I want louder? Seems an important omission for a £170 pedal (but the Fwonkbeta is similar).

The big positive of the EBS though is that it also does full range and low pass filters, and  a second up sweep setting (internally adjustable range), and down sweep. So 9 combinations in total and all of these can make decent sounds, so for that added versatility I think I'll stick with the EBS rather than M82.

The EBS is also in the sort of price range of a second hand Spectrum though which has even more versatility - but that needs phone/laptop tweaking and it only has 6 presets available without buying additional controls vs the 9x EBS settings....and like I was saying with the C4, it's not as obvious that 'green light middle toggle' is, say 'lowpass sweep up' than having it there on the dedicated controls of the EBS.

Of the filters I've owned:  Helix and Zoom envelope filters I didn't think much of, but the Fwonkbeta, EBS, M82, and Spectrum each have their pros and cons and all are good in their own way. For the time being I think I'll stick with the EBS but will have an eye out for alternatives - my search would probably be over if it just included clean/wet volume controls and a decay frequency control.

Edited by SumOne
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I'm actually going to return the EBS.

It works fine and is good but isn't quite good enough for me to justify £170 considering alternatives like 2nd hand M82 for about £100 which is less versatile (particularly no sweep down) but does the quick 'quack' percussive type bandpass sweep up better and has useful separate clean/wet volumes and decay filter control. Or about £150 for 2nd hand Spectrum for lots more tweaking versatility. 

.... or the Proton, spatial delivery, funk lite, discumbobulator all seem to be slightly different flavours of the EBS functions for simar new price,  possibly they will have the mojo in looking for. 

Anyone looking to sell any of them give me a shout. 

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2 hours ago, SumOne said:

I'm actually going to return the EBS.

It works fine and is good but isn't quite good enough for me to justify £170 considering alternatives like 2nd hand M82 for about £100 which is less versatile (particularly no sweep down) but does the quick 'quack' percussive type bandpass sweep up better and has useful separate clean/wet volumes and decay filter control. Or about £150 for 2nd hand Spectrum for lots more tweaking versatility. 

.... or the Proton, spatial delivery, funk lite, discumbobulator all seem to be slightly different flavours of the EBS functions for simar new price,  possibly they will have the mojo in looking for. 

Anyone looking to sell any of them give me a shout. 

Think there was a used Spectrum on here that hasn’t gone yet. 

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I bought a Spectrum, it's very good but something about it I didn't get on with, not sure what specifically but it just didn't do it for me so I returned it. 

I then ebay bid on a spacial delivery but lost, bid on an M82 and unexpectedly won.... So I'm now onto my 3rd M82! Its a bit of a toxic on/off relationship - it's a bit old, not very flexible, but we've got history and it's got personally and can get quite dirty! 

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14 minutes ago, SumOne said:

I bought a Spectrum, it's very good but something about it I didn't get on with, not sure what specifically but it just didn't do it for me so I returned it. 

I then ebay bid on a spacial delivery but lost, bid on an M82 and unexpectedly won.... So I'm now onto my 3rd M82! Its a bit of a toxic on/off relationship - it's a bit old, not very flexible, but we've got history and it's got personally and can get quite dirty! 

You're one up on me with MXR M82s then. Tried to love it second time around and just couldn't. Too brittle / harsh. Guess I'm going to be stuck with my Proton Mk4 for a while...

PBS IVB - dn.jpg

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7 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

You're one up on me with MXR M82s then. Tried to love it second time around and just couldn't. Too brittle / harsh. Guess I'm going to be stuck with my Proton Mk4 for a while...

PBS IVB - dn.jpg

Yeah, I like the look of the Proton, 'down' sweep is a big thing the M82 is missing....so I'm not completely settled yet. 

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